Soundboard of pianofortes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH NEVMAN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

SOUNIDBOAR-D OF PIANOFORTES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 16,99), dated April '7, 1857.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH NEWMAN, of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Iianofortes; and I do hereby declare that the same are described and represented in the following specifications and drawings.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvements I will proceed to describe their construction and use referring to the drawings in which the same letters indicate like parts in each of the figures.

Figure l, is a plan o f the interior of a piano forte with my improvements. Fig. 2, is a front elevation of the same the front portions of the casing N. N, and the bar F, being omitted. Fig. 3, is a sectional elevation of Fig. l to the right of the line e,

The nature of my invention and improvements in piano fortes and other musical instruments having two or more sounding boards consists in making bridges upon the lower sounding board or boards to protrude through or rise beyond the sounding board or boards above them.

In the accompanying drawings the case of the piano forte is shown at A, A, A. B, is the tuning block bridge; C, the hitch-pin plate and D the sounding board bridge all of which may be made in the form shown in the drawing or in such other form as may be preferred.

The sounding board E, extends under the front bar F, and sounding board bridge D, to the case at the right hand end as shown by broken lines in Fig. l. Atthe right hand end of the instrument, and at a little distance below the sounding board E I arrange another or second sounding board G, as shown in Figs. 2, and 3, and by broken lines in Fig. l. To this sounding board G, I fasten the bridge II, which extends up through apertures made for it in the sounding board E, and hitch pin plate C, and is made to rise so much higher than the plate C, and bridge D, that the strings I, I, which y rest upon the bridge H, will lay over or across the strings J, J, which rest on the bridge I) without interfering with them shown in Fig. that portion of the bridge B, from K, to L, which the strings I, I, rest upon and to which they are fastened being made higher than the other portion which the strings J, J, rest upon and to which they are fastened, as shown in the elevation Fig. Q. The strings I, I, which lie across the bridge IfI are fastened to the raised bar M on the plate C, as shown in l.

The above described construction and arrangement enables me to make a larger amount or area of available and effective sounding board, in an instrument of a given size, than has been done heretofore; the sounding boards E, and G, are entirely separate and distinct, one from the other, and the strings which lie across and rest upon the bridges of each board, are also separate and distinct from each other I contemplate that musical instruments may be made with two, three or more sounding boards arr:.ngcd one above another in succession; and that the bridges from the lower ones may extend up through apertures in the boards above them, or rise beyond the ends of the sounding boards above in succession as may be preferred by the maker or user.

I believe I have described and represented my improvements in pianofortesI so as to enable any person skilled in the art to malte and use them and I will now state what I desire to secure by Letters Patent, to wit:

I claim in pianofortes and other musical instruments having two or more sounding boards, making the bridges upon the lower sounding 'board or boards, to protrude through or rise beyond the sounding board or boards above them substantially as described for the purposes set forth in the l foregoing specification.

JOSEPH NEIVMAN. l.Witnesses IJ. J EwE'r'r GROVE, J AMES BUsEY. 

